Sometime around 33 AD, Jesus Christ was crucified for claiming to be the son of God. Shortly after, his followers said he had been resurrected, and they began preaching the gospel. This simultaneously sparked the movement that became Christianity and made them targets for the same persecution Jesus faced. Some of them would eventually die the same way he did. Jesus’ closest followers were the apostles, known as “the Twelve.” As leaders in the early church, each of the apostles played an integral role in spreading the church throughout the ancient world, and many of them died as a direct result of their ministry efforts, often at the hands of the people they were called to reach. In the Bible, fourteen people are considered apostles—the original members of the Twelve, plus Matthias (who was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot), and Paul (the apostle to the Gentiles). They were all real people who lived and died in the first century AD. Only two of their deaths are recorded in the Bible (James and Judas Iscariot). Most of what we know about the other apostles’ deaths come from ancient Christian writers and church tradition, and there are often multiple accounts of where and how they died. It’s commonly believed that only one apostle died of natural causes (John), but some accounts suggest there may have been others who weren’t martyred. Traditionally, each apostle has been portrayed in art holding or wearing an icon associated with their death (Bartholomew’s is pretty creepy by the way). In this article, we’ll look at what we know and don’t know about the deaths of each apostle, drawing from the Bible, history, early Christian writers, and legend to give you the full range of possibilities. For most of the apostles, the dates of their deaths are unknown or simply estimates, though some have more definitive timelines. Sometimes it can be difficult to trace traditions back to their original sources. When possible, we’ve done that for you. Is there a particular apostle you want to learn about? Use the links below to skip ahead: Let’s begin with a quick look at all the ways the apostles may have died according to Scripture, tradition, and legend.
Simon, also known as Peter, was one of the most prominent disciples of Jesus Christ, and one of the most important leaders of the early Christian church (Catholic tradition even claims he was the first pope), so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he suffered a fate similar to Jesus’. Peter was crucified, but with a twist: they hung his cross upside down. According to church tradition, Peter was killed by Emperor Nero around 64 AD, after the Great Fire of Rome, which he famously blamed Christians for starting. A second-century apocryphal text called Acts of Peter was the first account claiming Peter was crucified upside down, which was allegedly because he didn’t consider himself worthy of dying the same death as Jesus. At the end of the Gospel of John, Jesus predicts Peter’s death when he tells him, “when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). In case you missed that, John remarks, “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God” (John 21:19). Clement of Rome, an early church father who personally knew the apostles, wrote in his famous letter known as 1 Clement, “Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death. . . . Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him.” Eusebius, the father of church history, quotes Origen (a second/third-century scholar) as saying, “Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer” (Church History). Roman soldiers had a reputation for experimenting with variations of crucifixion. According to the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus, who lived in the first century, Roman soldiers didn’t always crucify people “right-side up,” and they tried different positions for entertainment (Jewish War).
Peter’s brother Andrew allegedly suffered a similar death, but the origin of this tradition isn’t as reliable. According to tradition, Andrew was martyred by crucifixion in the Greek city of Patras around 60 AD. Like his brother, Peter, Andrew didn’t consider himself worthy to die in the same way as Jesus, and so he was bound—not nailed—to a cross which was hung in an X shape instead of a T. For this reason, an X-shaped cross is sometimes referred to as Saint Andrew’s Cross. Unfortunately, the origin of this narrative isn’t exactly trustworthy. It comes from an apocryphal book called Acts of Andrew, which also includes numerous supernatural accounts of Andrew’s miracles—including a claim that he preached for three days straight as he hung on the cross—and it didn’t emerge until decades, maybe even centuries after his death. According to Acts of Andrew, part of Andrew’s three-day sermon (which he gave while he was dying) involved praising the cross as a symbol of Christ’s beautiful redemption:
The early church was rightfully suspicious of Acts of Andrew, but it seems that church tradition supported a similar account of his death. In the entry for Andrew, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs says:
Saint James was the first of Jesus’ apostles to die for following him, and he’s one of the only two apostles whose death is recorded in the Bible. (The other one is Judas Iscariot.) He was executed with a sword. We read about his death in Acts 12:
King Herod was eager to win the favor of the Jews. Since the Jews were very interested in preventing Christianity from spreading, he believed persecuting Christians would please his Jewish subjects—and it did (Acts 12:3). Scholars generally believe James was killed in Jerusalem in 44 AD. In the fourth century, Eusebius of Caesarea quoted Clement of Alexandria about James’ death:
Clement of Alexandria was born a little over 100 years after James died, but it’s very possible that he had access to accounts and records that didn’t survive. And while there are plenty of legends surrounding famous Christians, it’s not hard to imagine this being true. James was the first of the apostles who “drank the cup Jesus drank” (Mark 10:39).
John is traditionally regarded as the only apostle to die of old age. Some accounts suggest a couple others died of natural causes as well, but John’s tradition is the most firmly established. Before Jesus died, he entrusted his mother Mary to the beloved disciple (John 19:26–27), who is most widely believed to be John. When Mary died, John allegedly went to Ephesus, where he wrote his three epistles. From there, he was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the gospel, where he received the revelation from Christ and wrote the Book of Revelation. Eventually, he made it back to Ephesus and died an ordinary death sometime after 98 AD. (This tradition assumes that John the Apostle and John of Patmos are the same person, and scholars aren’t sure if that’s the case.) Tertullian, a Christian writer from the late second and early third century, wrote that before the Romans banished John, they brought him into a coliseum and dunked him in a vat of boiling oil. When he emerged unharmed, the entire coliseum converted to Christianity. This is why some iconography shows John in a vat of boiling oil. Do you wish you knew the Bible better? The Beginner’s Guide to the Bible gives you an overview of what the Bible is, what it’s for, and what it’s all about. You’ll walk away from it with enough knowledge to have a thoughtful conversation about the Bible with a pastor, an atheist, or anyone else.
Very early on, Christians confused Philip the Apostle with Philip the Evangelist from the Book of Acts. So we can’t say for sure which accounts are referring to which Philip. To make matters worse, there are conflicting stories. Basically, we don’t know how Philip died. But there are plenty of possibilities. One record says he died of natural causes. Another says he was beheaded. Or stoned to death. Or crucified upside down. What we do know is that he died sometime in the first century, possibly around 80 AD. Most of the earliest traditions seem to point to him being martyred in the ancient Greek city of Hierapolis. Polycrates of Ephesus wrote in a letter to Pope Victor, “I speak of Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who is laid to rest at Hierapolis. . .” Caius the Presbyter (a Christian writer in the third century) wrote: “And after this there were four prophetesses, daughters of Philip, at Hierapolis in Asia. Their tomb is there, and that, too, of their father.” But this appears to be talking about Philip the Evangelist, who had “four unmarried daughters, who prophesied” (Acts 21:8–9). It’s unlikely that both Philips had four prophesying daughters. The Acts of Philip provides the earliest, most detailed account of his martyrdom, but again, it’s hard to say how much we can trust it. Philip supposedly converted a proconsul’s wife, which angered the proconsul enough to have him and Bartholomew crucified upside down. While hanging there, Philip preached, and the crowd was moved to release them. He told them to free Bartholomew, but not to take him down.
Bartholomew was probably martyred—but like many of the apostles, there are several ways it may have happened. The most popular and prolific tradition is that he was flayed and then beheaded, which is why most art portraying him either shows him holding or wearing his skin, or associates him with flaying knives. Pretty gross, right? But there are other records of his death, too. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs claims that in India, “He was at length cruelly beaten and then crucified by the impatient idolaters.” The Golden Legend notes several accounts:
Another tradition claims he was beaten unconscious and drowned in the ocean. However Bartholomew died, it was probably pretty gruesome. But while they may not agree on the manner of his death, all of the traditions connect Bartholomew’s death to his ministry. Now, if only they could all agree on where that was.
The Apostle Thomas, also known as the infamous “Doubting Thomas,” has a fairly straightforward tradition surrounding his death. The Acts of Thomas says he was martyred in Mylapore, India, where he was stabbed with spears. Syrian Christian tradition specifies Thomas was martyred in Mylapore on July 3, 72 AD, noting that he was killed with a spear. An early ecclesiastical calendar entry reads:
No other tradition exists regarding his death.
There are several conflicting accounts about Matthew’s death. Clement of Alexandria quotes Heracleon, one of the earliest commentators on the New Testament, as saying that Matthew died naturally:
But while earlier records are often assumed to be more reliable (because they’re closer to when the events actually happened), most scholars don’t accept Heracleon’s account today. All the other early records of Matthew’s death claim he was martyred, but they disagree about how and where it happened. The early church fathers said he was burned, stoned, stabbed, or beheaded. In John Foxe’s famous Book of Martyrs (which rounded up the most popular traditions known in the sixteenth century), the entry for Matthew states:
How James son of Alphaeus died depends on whether or not you assume he’s the same person as James the Just (the brother of Jesus). James son of Alphaeus is only mentioned twice in the Bible and was one of the most obscure apostles, but James the Just was an important leader in the early church. Church tradition claims they’re the same James, but modern scholars disagree. Tradition tells us that James the Just was pushed from the pinnacle of a temple he was preaching at, and then beaten with a fuller’s club and stoned to death. In art, James son of Alphaeus is typically portrayed with a fuller’s club, reflecting the church’s assumption that he was the same person as James the Just. However, the tradition which claims James son of Alphaeus preached in Egypt says he was crucified in the city of Ostrakine. Hippolytus, a theologian who lived in the second and third centuries, allegedly recorded James’ death in On the Twelve Apostles of Christ:
This is the same death tradition ascribes to James, brother of Jesus, but scholars have little reason to trust On the Twelve Apostles of Christ. The text wasn’t discovered until the nineteenth century, and most believe it’s pseudepigrapha (writing that falsely claims to be written by someone).
It’s traditionally believed that Jude was martyred in Syria on his missionary journey with Simon the Zealot. But it’s unclear how reliable this tradition is because it comes from the account found in Acts of Simon and Jude, a questionable text full of legendary stories. According to The Golden Legend, Simon and Jude command demons to come out of idols and destroy their own images. Then the religious leaders kill Simon and Jude:
In art, Jude is often portrayed holding an axe to represent this tradition.
There are numerous accounts of Simon the Zealot’s death, but the earliest records didn’t come until centuries after his death. Like many of the apostles, it’s hard to conclude exactly which tradition (if any) can be trusted:
So maybe he was a martyr. And maybe not. But he probably was.
Besides James, Judas Iscariot is the only apostle whose death is recorded in the Bible. But unlike James, Judas wasn’t a martyr. He committed suicide shortly after betraying Jesus. Interestingly, the Bible appears to give two different accounts of how Judas died. The Book of Acts and the Gospel of Matthew each record a version of Judas’ death. Matthew records that Judas hung himself immediately after the chief priests refused to take their money back:
The chief priests then used the money to buy a field, which Matthew connects to prophecies from Zechariah and Jeremiah:
Interestingly, Acts (traditionally attributed to Saint Luke) gives a different account:
Luke’s account of Judas’ death doesn’t necessarily contradict Matthew’s. He could simply be referring to something that happened after Judas hung himself. But that still leaves us with the question of who bought the field—Judas, or the chief priests? And they appear to have different reasons for why the field was called the Field of Blood. Matthew’s account is the only one that tells us Judas felt remorse, and he directly connects that remorse to Judas’ suicide. Luke’s account almost seems to paint a picture of Judas as being “doomed to destruction,” as though a sudden gruesome death was simply his fate for betraying Jesus. Still, both accounts appear to be in agreement that Judas died around the same time as Jesus. And it certainly wasn’t from old age.
Matthias wasn’t one of the original members of the Twelve Apostles. The other apostles chose him to replace Judas Iscariot after Jesus ascended to heaven, while they were waiting for the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:12–26. Matthias is the most obscure apostle, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that we can’t be very sure what he did or how he died. Some traditions claim he was stoned at the end of his ministry to cannibals in Aethiopia (Georgia). Another that he was stoned by Jews in Jerusalem and then beheaded. Hippolytus of Rome records that he died in Jerusalem of old age.
Paul wasn’t one of the Twelve, but he’s one of the only other people who is universally considered an apostle. Specifically, he was the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:3). His death isn’t recorded in the Bible, but it’s one of the more well-documented martyrdoms in the early church. Numerous early church fathers wrote that he was beheaded by emperor Nero, which would mean it had to be sometime before 68 AD. Clement of Rome provided the earliest surviving record of Paul’s death in his letter to the Corinthians, where he mentions that Paul and Peter were martyred. An apocryphal work from the second century known as The Acts of Paul says that Nero had Paul decapitated. And in 200 AD, Tertullian wrote that Paul’s death was like John the Baptist’s (who was beheaded). Other early Christian writers support these claims and provide some additional details like where it happened (Rome) and where he was buried (the Ostian Way at Rome). The apostles were some of the most important leaders in the movement which became Christianity. The largest religion in the world exists as we know it today because of their work in the years after Jesus’ death. But most people only know a handful of their names—let alone what the Bible says about them, or what they accomplished. We explore the apostles in greater detail in Who Were the 12 Apostles? The Beginner’s Guide, and you can read it for free—you don’t even have to give us your email. Check it out. |